The Congress Tuesday hit back at Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for what it called his “unfair criticism” of its leadership, deepening the political confrontation between the two sides days after the government reached out to the main Opposition party to end the deadlock over the Good and Services Tax (GST) Bill.

The Congress said no “constructive engagement” can be achieved by “targeting, blaming and insulting” its leadership.

The party was enraged by Jaitley’s remarks that it was the Congress high command — seen as a reference to party president Sonia Gandhi and vice-president Rahul Gandhi — that was coming in the way of an agreement on the GST.

“The Congress rejects the unfair criticism of its leadership and the party. It is ironic that this charge has been levelled by the Finance Minister, who has an unflattering distinction of justifying the parliamentary disruption as a legitimate strategy for the opposition,” Anand Sharma said.